


Sick Day Replacements

by Em_313



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Common Cold, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Season 2, Sickfic, Workaholic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-07-29 15:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16266704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_313/pseuds/Em_313
Summary: "You took care of me every damn day for months when I couldn't even stand up after Rosslyn. The least I could do is give you some time to sleep off a cold." While Josh is on a pursuit to save America's kindergartners from a doomed life of mediocrity, his right-hand woman goes down for the count. Surely he can survive a day or two without Donna, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Wednesday, February 7th, 10:38pm**

 

“Hey Donna do you have the Midwest--”

“I gave it to you already.” She leaned against his doorframe.

“You did?” He was surrounded by binders and piles it was a wonder he could find anything.

“I see it. Green folder under your left hand.”

He turned to his right. “Left hand, Joshua. Left. Left.”

“Found it.” He smiled sheepishly.

“It's getting late. Want to get something to eat before the mess closes?”

He chuckled. “Donna, I had 3 lunch meetings today. I'm not hungry.” He shuffled a few pages around and opened another binder. “You should go get something real quick.”

“I'm not hungry.” She said. She coughed into the sleeve of her cardigan.

“Come sit, you can help me with this.”

Early education was Josh's crusade of the week. He'd spent most of the day with the Department of Education, National Education Association, and Head Start, working through sob stories and statistics. The afternoon was spent buttering up bitter congressmen. Donna sat down across from him. “Lobell tried to tell me this is the government raising children instead of the parents. That's such bullshit.”

“Preaching to the choir.” Donna mumbled.

“Listen to this! Listen! The average child from a professional family hears over 200,000 words per week, a working class family about 150,000. But children from families on welfare only hear 62,000 words per week. These kids start school behind--and that’s not even talking about hunger and trauma and access to healthcare.” He flipped through a few pages in his yellow legal pad and squinted at his own handwriting. “It actually changes their brains, Donna, being read to. Kids who can’t read drop out of school. And Head Start isn’t working--that’s what I’m working on now.”

He pointed at one of his binders and smiled. “This is it. Universal preschools, fixing Head Start. This is what's going in the history books about President Bartlett, Donna! This could be his shining achievement: rescuing millions of American kindergartners from poverty and illiteracy and-and-and mediocrity!” He ran his hands through his hair again, making it stand up more than it was. When Josh was buzzing with excitement and curiosity, he resembled a cartoon character who’d been struck by lightning.

He expected Donna to jump into this conversation. She'd reply to his statistics with random trivia, or maybe tell a rambling story about her own school experience: learning to read Clifford the Big Red Dog or copying her friends’ algebra homework to avoid failure. She'd grill him on his plans and be the sounding board for his half-assed ideas.

But she didn't say anything. She was staring at the filing cabinet, gently rubbing her temple with her fingers.

“Well?” He said impatiently.

“Mm...sounds great.” She said.

“Hey,” He said. “You okay?”

She looked up. “Yeah.” She sighed and turned towards him. “Just not feeling very well.” She admitted.

“Want something to drink?”

She nodded. “That'd be great. My throat is killing me.”

He handed her a bottle of water and opened himself a bottle of Guinness.

“Really?” She said

“What? Sometimes at midnight I switch from caffeine to alcohol. It's how I got through law school.”

Neither of them pointed out it was only quarter to 11.

She took a sip of water and rubbed her head. “How old are you?”

“41.” He took a sip of his dark beer.

“It's a miracle you've made it this far.”

“Says the one who's sick.”

“I'm fine. What do you need help with?”

He handed her a binder and started rambling about literacy rates and statewide trends and demographics. “We need to hit them between the eyes with proof!” Donna nodded. She pulled a hair tie from her wrist, piled her hair up into a messy bun, and began to read. It was rare for them to be so quiet; except for the habitual nervous tapping of Josh's pen and Donna's muffled coughs, their office was still for the better part of an hour.

“Dammit I'm going cross eyed with all this.” Josh slammed his memo down. He pointed at something on the page. “Is that a 6 or an 8?”

Donna leaned forward to see, then turned her head and sneezed. Josh raised an eyebrow. “You...sure you're okay?”

“It's just a cold.” She said, rubbing her nose.

“You don't look too good.”

She rested her head on her arm again. “Gee, thanks, Josh, you really know how to boost a girl up.” Her voice was getting hoarse.

He reached across his desk and gently touched her cheek.

She jerked back. “Stop! Your hand’s freezing!”

“Donna, go home.” He said. “You're sick.”

“I'll leave when you leave. This is important.”

He sighed and looked at the mess of papers and his illegible notes. “I can get it done.” He had about 40 documents. They’d read 17.

“Get some of the interns to help you. Or someone from DOE. You’re so stubborn.”

“I’ve talked to the DOE and the NEA all day. And I need it done the way I want it. This is--this is it, Donna. This is—“

“I know, I know, going in the history books.” She said, then coughed into her sleeve for several moments.

“Ugh.” She closed her eyes.

Josh stood up. “Come on, you’re dead on your feet.” He said. “I’ll walk out with you. I need to clear my head.”

“Me too.” She sniffled. “My brain is drowning in snot.”

“Gross.” He stood quietly with his hands in his pockets as he watched her shut down her computer, blow her nose, then gather her coat and purse.

“Hey, why don’t you sleep in tomorrow?” Josh said.

“What?” She turned around and put her jacket on.

“Actually, just take it easy tomorrow. Take the whole day.”

“Are you—“

“I think I can manage without you for 36 hours.”

“Okay but...hang on.” She put her purse down and began writing on a post it.

“What are you doing? We were leaving.”

“If I don’t leave instructions, you’ll be calling me at home tomorrow, which will negate the whole resting concept.”

“Really I’ll be—“

She stuck the post it and her scheduling notebook on a desk near hers. “Bonnie’s out of town for a wedding, so the other secretaries are swamped too.” She pointed at the desk. “Jason sits here. He’s an intern. He’s 23, taking a gap year before law school. He’s a great guy. Go to him if you need anything tomorrow.”

“I don’t need babysitting.” He said. “I’m sure we’ll be alright. Now go. Home. Medicine. Bed.”

Donna sighed, which made her cough again. Josh gently put his hand on the small of her back as they walked quietly through the empty halls.

“Have you felt bad all day?” He asked softly.

“I’ve been sick all week.” Donna said. She leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked. “I...I woke up with a scratchy throat over the weekend and it just...kept getting worse.”

“Well, I’m an ass.” Josh said.

“What?” They waved goodnight to the door security as they stepped out into the cold night.

“I didn’t notice until tonight that you’re feeling bad. I’ve been so...obsessed with this education thing I haven’t noticed that you’re a feverish zombie.”

“I’m a big girl, Joshua.” She pulled her coat tighter around her. “I can take care of myself.”

“You...you would notice if I was sick.” He said.

She dug around in her purse for her car keys. “It’s kind of my job.”

“No.” He said. “Your job is to answer my phone and make my schedule and do my filing. But you...bring me dinner when I haven’t eaten all day, when I don’t ask, because you know I forget to eat.”

“Mmhmm.” she said, sidestepping a patch of grey, slushy snow.

“You took care of me every damn day for months when I couldn’t even stand up after Rosslyn. The least I could do is give you some time to sleep off a cold.” She opened her car door and slowly got in.

“Appreciate it.” She said. “Don’t stay here all night.”

“Hey, Donna?”

She rolled down her window. “ _What_? I’m going home.”

“Call me when you get there?” He could see his breath in the icy night. “I wanna know you made it okay.”

She nodded. “Goodnight, Joshua.” She said hoarsely.

“Feel better!” he called after her car. He stuck his hands in his pockets and trekked back to his office.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, after a meager 3 hours of sleep, Josh found an intern standing in front of his office door. 

“Um, good morning, Mr. Lyman.” The kid said. Donna had said he was 22, but the intern’s too big jacket and too big green eyes in his round, carmel colored face told Josh he probably got carded for R-rated movies. “I, um, got a note from Donna that you might need a hand today with her out sick and everything, so I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I’m up for doing anything you need.” 

“Thanks, Justin.” Josh grunted.

“Um, Jason.” He said. “My name is Jason. But I have a twin brother named Justin.” Jason, like all the interns and junior staffers, wore his ID around his neck. He twirled the lanyard back and forth around his fingers, a nervous habit he thought no one noticed. 

Josh unlocked his door, flipped on the lights, took off his coat, and started to unpack his backpack, adding to the pile of notes and memos already crowding his desk. Jason hovered in the doorway, just watching. 

“Would you like some coffee or anything, Mr. Lyman?” He finally said. 

“No.” He said. Donna only brought him coffee once, when she thought he was going to get fired. “And call me Josh. Please. Could you get my schedule? What am I doing today?” 

Jason retrieved the agenda Donna had left for him, with all Josh’s appointments penciled in her perfect handwriting, with color-coded post-its and tiny curly doodles in the corners. “8am, senior staff. 11am, Head Start directors in the Roosevelt Room...um....” Jason read each appointment slowly, almost robotically, staring at the notebook the whole time.

He somehow gave too much information and not enough. Donna would’ve had his schedule memorized, and rattled it off with biting commentary or rambling questions about each of the people he was meeting. She always reminded him which Congressmen had kids and grandkids he needed to ask about and whether the Secretary of Defense rooted for the Mets or the Yankees. 

Josh poured himself more coffee and shut the door to his office to haul through the rest of the DOE documents. Just before 8, Sam came to walk with him to the Oval for senior staff. 

“Did you sleep in your office again last night?” Sam asked. “You look like hell.” 

“What?” Josh looked down. His clothes were a little rumpled, maybe, but not stained. He was pretty sure he smelled okay but he hadn’t had time to shower. “I went home...for a couple hours. I just repeated the pants, but this is a clean shirt. No crime.” 

“CJ said your light was still on when she went home at 2. How’s the education plan coming?” 

Josh sighed. “It’d be faster with another person.” 

“So use another person.” 

“The interns are useless.” He muttered. He straightened his tie. “And Donna’s sick. I’m doing my best to leave her alone for the day.” 

“Hang on.” Sam grabbed Josh by the shoulder at the door to the Oval, and brushed some crumbs from the sleeve of Josh’s jacket. The muffin he’d scarfed down in his car. “Golden.” 

“Thanks buddy.” 

Sam patted his shoulder. 

 

For the rest of the morning, Josh was able to get through a few pages at a time in between visits from Jason. 

“Josh, Representative Calhoun wants to have lunch tomorrow about this bill. Should I schedule it? Is that okay?” 

“Yeah tell him to call me later.” He went back to reading. 

Twenty minutes and six pages later. 

“Josh, Hank O’Conner is on the phone.”   
Fifteen minutes later and another state finished.   
“Senator Newberry is on the phone.”   
Twelve minutes and half a page later. 

“Congressman Jackson is on the phone. And, um, I’m sorry but I can’t read your handwriting on these notes I’m typing. What’s that line say?” 

Ten minutes later and Jason stuck his head in the doorway again.   
“Josh, Congresswoman Jordan wants to meet next Tuesday at 4. I’m not sure what about. Is that okay?”

“Hey Jason?” Josh laid his memo down and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve got 30 hours to save the future of American education. That’s why I have an assistant, to make my schedule and field my calls. If you don’t know the answer to something or you don't want to put anything on the schedule, just take a message. And let me read in peace. Please?” 

“Oh. Okay, sure. Yeah.” he shuffled off. “Sorry about that, Mr. Lyman.” 

“S’okay Jordan.” Josh took a swig of his now cold coffee. “Shut the door.” 

He sighed and looked at his piles. This would go so much faster with Donna. She knew how to use just the right amount of deceptively sweet sass to get people off the phone, and always carried a stain remover in her purse, even when Josh insisted he could take care of himself. Hell, she’d probably have his education data bullet pointed and color-coordinated by now. He squinted at his yellow legal pad. 

The door opened. “Uh, so sorry to bother you again, Josh, but Representative Mitchell is on the phone. He said it’s important.” 

Josh snorted. “What’s important? To tell me that I’m sinful for giving poor kids an education when their families can’t pull themselves up by their damn bootstraps? To scream nanny state?” 

“Um, Mr. Lyman…” Jason stuttered. 

“Oh, how dare minorities and poor people get a better education! They might start thinking and having ideas.” Josh was talking faster now. “Ideas like voting greed and nepotism and hypocrisy out of office, voting in some people who’d rather protect the wellbeing of kids more than they want to protect some a bunch of fat old men’s wallets!” 

“Took the words right out of my mouth, Mr. Lyman.” Mitchell’s voice floated over the phone.   
Josh froze, then glared at Jason. 

“I--I should’ve told you I’d already put it through.” He said. He hurried out and shut the door. 

Josh picked up the phone. “How are you, sir?”  
……..  
CJ returned from her 2 o’clock briefing to find Josh sitting on the floor of her office, resting his back against the couch. His suit jacket and a leaning stack of binders sat on the couch behind him. 

“You look like a lost puppy dog.” CJ said. She stepped over his legs to get to her desk. He had a laptop perched on his knees, sprawled out on the floor like a teenager playing video games. “Did you get evicted?” 

“Needed a change of scenery.” he mumbled. 

“Avoiding the phone?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Not as bad as the secret plan to fight inflation, but you’re not making yourself a whole lot of friends right now.” 

“Hey!” Josh said. “How was I supposed to know the phone was on? And it’s not like the unholy trinity are my friends anyways.” 

She shook her head. “For someone so damn smart, you can be impossibly dumb.” She sat down at her desk and pulled out her own laptop. “I have a lot to do but you can stay for a bit. We’re running a country here, ya know.” 

“I’m working.” he gestured to the stack of binders behind him. “I’m getting close on this Head Start thing. I’m going through the data now and I had Jason hold all my calls for the rest of the day. And then it got too quiet over there.” 

“Back up.” CJ looked up. “Who in the world is Jason? Where’s Donna?” 

“Sick.” he said. “I sent her home around midnight last night.” 

CJ smiled and took off her glasses. “No wonder you’re such a mess today.” 

“For God’s sake, CJ, I’m not six years old!” he moved his laptop and sat up straighter. “I’m one of the best political minds in the country! I don’t need a babysitter.” 

“Calm down, bucko.” CJ said. “No one’s doubting your brilliance. But you know as well as I do none of us could run the country without our assistants running us.” 

Josh nodded. “Donna sounded pretty miserable last night.” he frowned. “I hope she’s okay.” 

“Give her a call. See if she needs you to bring her dinner. I think that’s a phone call even you and James can’t mess up.” 

“His name is Jason.” Josh muttered. He gathered his work and left to call Donna.


	3. Chapter 3

Josh stood on the steps of Donna's apartment, staring at the door. He had a paper grocery bag cradled in each arm and another bag in each fist. The new kid at the deli had put everything in as many bags as possible. He jabbed at the buzzer with his knuckles. The metal was cold and he was losing his grip on the small bag in his right hand, the one from the pharmacy.

“Hello?” Donna’s voice, thick and sleepy, came crackling through the speaker. 

“It’s me.” Josh said. “Let me in.”

The pharmacy bag ripped. A box of cold medicine tumbled down the steps. “Shit!”

He carefully set the other bags down and rescued the bruised box from the bottom step. At least it hadn’t fallen directly into the snow.  He slid the box into his coat pocket and bent down to pick up the other bags. 

One of the deli bags was unbalanced and started to lean slowly to one side. “No no no no!” Before he got a hold of it, it tipped onto one side. A container of soup popped open and a puddle of broth spread across the concrete. “Dammit!” 

“Josh?” Donna’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Door’s open. Come on up.” 

He looked around. He hoped the puddle of soup wouldn’t freeze. He gathered the bags and climbed the steps to her 4th floor walk up. 

“Hi.” He said breathlessly when she opened the door. “So, good news is I brought us food. Bad news is I dropped half of it.”

Donna sighed. “You got my drugs, right?” 

He set his bags down on the table then pulled the dented box of cold medicine from his pocket. 

Donna eyed it suspiciously. “Did you buy this or steal it from a street corner?” 

Josh took his coat off and laid it on a chair. “I dropped that too, but I didn’t smuggle it. I promise.” He unloaded the other bags. More medicine, tissues, sandwiches and another container of soup. “How are you feeling?”

“I have an ear infection like I’m 8 years old.” She whined. She wandered into the living room and came back with a Bugs Bunny coffee mug with a tangle of tea bags hanging on the edge.  “I went to the doctor this morning. He looked in my ears and said ‘yikes’. Yikes, Josh.” 

Josh grimaced. “Yuck.” He tossed her another medicine bottle. “Here.” They moved seamlessly around each other. She took her medicine. He went to the kitchen for plates. 

Donna curled up on the couch with her bare feet tucked under her. Her eyes and nose were red and she wore sweats and a faded University of Wisconsin soccer tee. 

“I didn’t know you played soccer.” He said.

She looked down at her shirt. “Not me. An ex.” 

“Dr. Freeride?” 

“No, guy before that. A summer thing right after I graduated high school.”   
“Oh.” He said. “And you kept the shirt?” 

“It’s soft.” She said. He handed her part of a sandwich and a mug of soup.  “I have bowls.” 

He sat down at the other end of the couch with his own food and kicked his shoes off. “You don’t eat soup out of coffee cups when you’re sick?” he said. 

She took a bite of her soup and shook her head. “No.” She said. “Is that a thing?” 

Josh smiled a little, revealing deep dimples. “When I was a kid, we always did soup in mugs when we were sick because then we could drink the soup juice. Broth, uh, I called it ‘soup juice’.” 

Donna giggled.  “That’s adorable.”  She said. “Thank you, by the way.  I haven’t said that yet.” 

“Of course. No problem.” 

“Are you being nice to Jason?” She asked. 

Josh rolled his eyes and recounted the day’s misadventures. Another full night of work awaited him after dinner. 

“Sorry, I didn’t warn him that part of the job includes keeping your foot out of your mouth.” 

“You were only 22 when you came to work for me, right?” he rubbed his eyes. “You had other annoying qualities, but you weren’t incompetent.” 

“You can be a pill to work for.” She said. “You’re lucky I’m so used to your quirks.” 

He started to defend himself but his phone rang. “This is Josh Lyman. What’s going on?” 

“Where the fresh hell are you?” Leo bellowed. 

“I, uh, I took a dinner break. I’ll be back soon.” 

“Get here  _ now.”  _ he said. “Your NEA negotiations were supposed to start ten minutes ago. I’ve got--” 

“No, no, Leo, they’re at 6.” 

“Tell that to all the nice people who were here at 5.” 

Josh stuffed his feet into his shoes.  “I’m on my way.” He snapped his phone shut. 

“What’s the matter?” Donna looked up from her half-eaten food. 

“I’ve gotta go fire Jason.” He jumped up and pulled his coat on. 

“Oh, Josh, he’s young.” Donna said. “You’ve just gotta be patient with him.” 

“Leo’s not in the mood to be patient with me!” He said. “I’ve got a roomful of pissed off teachers ready to give me detention for being tardy.” 

“Break out that boyish charm.” 

“My actual detention record says teachers are immune to that.” He picked up his backpack, leaving a mess of take-out wrappers and soup bowls on her kitchen table. 

“Sorry I can’t help.” She said as he opened the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” 

“Hell no you won’t.” He turned around. “You’re no good to me dead.” 

She leaned her head back against the couch. “We work for the president. World keeps spinning.” 

“Get some sleep!” Josh called as he slammed the door shut behind him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from Fanfic.net because this site in more user-friendly. Let me know if you want more! Thanks for reading and reviewing, friends <3 ~Em


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